175^14 


UC-NRLF 

illlllll 

B    2    flM2    b3b 


Research  as 


a  Career. 


DR.  HENRY  PRENTISS  ARMSBY,  PH.  D.,  LL.  D. 


Delivered  at  Twenty- Eighth  Annual  Meetin 


TI-: 


J]     ' 


/  /3. 


Research  as  a  Career, 


PRESIDENTIAL  ADDRESS. 


By  Dr.  Henry  Prentiss  Armsby,  Ph.  D.,  LL.  D. 
State  College,  Pa. 


In  the  address  which  I  was  privileged  to  present  before 
this  Society  at  its  last  meeting,  I  urged  with  such  force  as  I 
might  that  the  promotion  of  agricultural  science  is  equivalent 
to  the  promotion,  by  such  means  as  are  at  our  command,  of 
research  in  agriculture.  I  attempted  to  suggest  some  ways 
in  which  this  Society  might  make  its  influence  more  largely 
felt  in  stimulating  real  scientific  investigation  of  a  high  order 
and  in  enhancing  the  popular  appreciation  of  the  necessity 
for  and  the  value  of  such  investigation,  to  the  end  that  it  might 
receive  the  necessary  moral  and  financial  support. 

The  months  which  have  elapsed  since  that  time  have  but 
strengthened  ray  conviction  of  1:Se' importance  of  such  pro- 
motion of  agricultural  science.  As  the  education  of  the 
American  farmer  progresses  he  is  feeling  less  need  for  and 
less  patience  with  elementary,  superficial  experiments  and 
demonstrations.  Useful  as  these  have  been  in  the  develop- 
ment of  our  agriculture,  their  day  is  passing.  Our  institu- 
tions for  agricultural  research  have  entered  upon  the  serious 
problem  of  extending  and  compacting  our  knowledge  of  the 
fundamental  principles  upon  which  successful  practice  must 
be  based.  Their  work  in  the  future,  if  they  are  to  justify 
themselves,  must  be  increasingly  of  a  scientific  and  even 
abstruse  character,  and  such  research  must  be  amply  sup' 
ported  financially  and  must  be  allowed  the  time  and  continue 
ity  necessary  to  secure  valid  results. 

That  the  public  confidence  in  the  ultimate  outcome  of 
scientific  investigation  in  agriculture  as  undertaken  in  this 
country  is  great,  and  its  future  support  assured,  is  clearly 
demonstrated  by  the  rapidly  increasing  appropriations  made 


2  RESEARCH  AS  A  CAREER 

to  it  by  both  the  national  and  state  governments.  The  recent 
passage  of  the  Adams  Act,  in  particular,  with  its  stringent 
requirement  for  the  application  of  the  fund  to  original  in- 
vestigation augurs  well  for  the  future.  At  the  same  time,  it 
is  equally  true  that  the  researches  of  any  publicly  supported 
institution  must  keep  fairly  close  to  the  prospect  of  definite 
returns.  There  is  a  considerable  range  of  abstract  research, 
promising  less  immediate  results,  which  can  be  cultivated 
only  to  a  limited  extent  by  such  institutions.  The  endow- 
ment of  the  more  recondite  forms  of  agricultural  research  I 
still  believe  to  be  of  the  greatest  importance  in  assuring  am- 
ple time  and  security  of  support  for  work  of  this  character, 
and  I  believe  that  such  endowment  will  come,  as  it  has  for 
other  lines  of  scientific  inquiry.  A  subject  of  such  funda- 
mental sociologic  and  economic  importance  cannot  long  re- 
main an  exception. 

Tonight  I  ask  you  to  consider  with  me  for  a  few  minutes 
an  even  more  important  aspect  of  the  problem  of  the  pro- 
motion of  agricultural  science  and  one  for  which  possibly  the 
immediate  outlook  is  not  so  hopeful.  We  all  realize  when 
our  attention  is  called  to  the  matter  that  the  central  factor  in 
research  is  the  man.  Endowments,  laboratories,  appliances 
are  secondary  and  exist  and  are  useful  only  because  and  to 
the  extent  that  they  aid  the  man  in  his  search  for  truth. 
This  is  an  elementary  conception  but  I  fear  we  are  all  prone 
at  times  to  lose  sight  of  it.  It  is  well  to  discuss  methods  of 
securing  financial  support  for  scientific  investigation  and 
means  of  impressing  upon  the  public  its  importance,  but  in 
doing  so  we  are  inclined  unconsciously  to  assume  not  only 
the  present  existence  of  an  adequate  body  of  investigators, 
but  that  their  number  like  that  of  the  operatives  in  a  factory 
may  be  indefinitely  increased  as  occasion  arises.  This  seems 
hardly  a  rational  procedure  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  de- 
mands of  this  work  are  bound  to  increase.  If  we  do  not  ex- 
pect appropriations  to  grow  by  their  own  inherent  energy, 
and  if  we  undertake  to  study  and  improve  the  organization 
of  agricultural  research,  is  it  not  the  part  of  ordinary  prudence 
to  take  thought  also  for  the  training  of  the  men  who  are  to 
meet  these  increasing  demands  for  agricultural  investigation 


RESEARCH  AS  A  CAREER  3 

and  to  replace  those  now  active  in  the  work  ?  We  have  no 
cause  to  be  ashamed  of  our  investigators  as  a  body,  but 
should  we  not  see  to  it  that  they  have  some  spiritual  progeny  ? 

I  raise,  therefore,  three  questions  :  First — What  should 
be  the  training  of  the  investigator  in  agriculture  ?  Second — 
What  are  the  most  effective  means  of  acquiring  this  train- 
ing? Third — Are  the  conditions  surrounding  research  work 
in  agriculture  such  as  are  calculated  to  attract  qualified  men 
to  it  and  to  induce  students  to  engage  in  definite  preparation 
for  it  ? 

These  are  large  questions,  of  fundamental  importance  to 
the  future  of  research  in  agriculture.  He  would  be  pre- 
sumptuous, indeed,  who  should  undertake  to  answer  them  on 
the  basis  of  his  own  knowledge,  and  especially  within  the 
limits  of  one  address,  but  the  mere  formulation  of  them  may 
not  be  without  its  use.  Certainly,  it  has  seemed  to  some  of 
us  that  the  material  basis  of  research  has  at  present  a 
tendency  to  outrun  the  supply  of  those  qualified  to  utilize  it, 
and  that  there  are  too  many  instances  of  mediocre  men  feel- 
ing about  for  subjects  of  investigation  or  taking  up  irrelevant 
or  petty  questions.  If  this  impression  be  correct,  the  situa- 
tion is  a  serious  one  and  calls  for  prompt  action  to  avert  the 
danger  of  a  collapse. 

In  considering  these  questions  we  must  recognize  at  the 
outset  that  there  are  grades  of  research.  I  quote  an  already 
frequently  quoted  paragraph  from  the  address  of  Dr.  William 
H.  Welch  at  the  dedication  of  the  buildings  of  the  Harvard 
Medical  School. 

"On  this  creative  side  of  university  work  men  count  for 
more  than  stately  edifice  and  all  the  pride  and  pomp  of  out- 
ward life.  Research  is  not  to  be  bought  in  the  market  place, 
nor  does  it  follow  the  commercial  law  of  supply  and  demand. 
The  multitude  can  acquire  knowledge  ;  many  there  are  who 
can  impart  it  skilfully ;  smaller  but  still  considerable  is  the 
number  of  those  who  can  add  new  facts  to  the  store  of  knowl- 
edge, but  rare,  indeed,  are  the  thinkers,  born  with  the  genius 
for  discovery  and  with  the  gift  of  the  scientific  imagination 
to  interpret  in  broad  generalizations  and  laws  the  phenomena 


4  RESEARCH  AS  A  CAREER 

of  nature.  These  last  are  the  glory  of  a  university.  Search 
for  them  far  and  wide  beyond  college  gate  and  city  wall,  and 
when  found  cherish  them  as  a  possession  beyond  all  price." 

The  occasional  genius,  however,  may  well  be  left  out  of 
our  present  consideration.  Like  St.  Paul,  who  said  of  him- 
self, "Necessity  is  laid  upon  me,  yea  woe  is  me  if  I  preach 
not  the  gospel,"  so  the  genius  in  science  is  driven  by  an  in- 
ner compulsion  to  search  out  the  hidden  things  of  nature. 
With  this  exceptional  man  the  only  question  is  how  to  make 
the  conditions  surrounding  him  such  as  to  render  his  work 
most  effective. 

For  most  of  us,  however,  a  more  modest  rank  must  suf- 
fice. As  Professor  Cattell  somewhat  pathetically  remarks  in 
his  discussion  of  American  Men  of  Science,  "  Very  few  of 
those  in  this  list  of  scientific  men  will  be  given  posthumous 
consideration."  Nor  need  this  fact  unduly  sadden  us.  There 
are  diversities  of  operations  in  the  body  scientific  as  in  the 
body  spiritual.  The  great  bulk  of  the  work  of  science  in  all 
departments  is  done  by  the  plodding,  faithful  seekers  after 
truth  rather  than  fame,  and  the  promotion  of  agricultural 
science  depends  after  all  quite  as  much  on  the  patient,  con- 
scientious labors  of  the  trained  and  competent  investigator, 
each  in  his  field,  as  on  the  occasional  brilliant  generalization 
of  the  exceptional  man.  Genius  is  heaven  sent  and  we  do 
well  to  reverence  the  gift  of  the  gods,  but  talent  we  may  hope 
to  train  and  foster,  and  it  is  talent  rather  than  genius  on 
which  we  must  depend  for  the  work-a-day  progress  of  our 
institutions  for  agricultural  research. 

1.  What  should  be  the  training  of  the  investigator  in 
agriculture  ?  Aside  from  that  general  training  necessary  to 
every  educated  man,  there  are,  I  think,  two  elements  to  be 
considered.  The  investigator  in  agriculture,  if  he  be  a  real 
investigator,  is  a  student  of  science.  He  is  not  a  mere  ob- 
server of  nature  or  of  practice ;  still  less,  one  whose  prime 
motive  is  the  immediate  application  of  his  results  to  an  in- 
crease of  the  profits  of  farming.  He  is  not  content  with 
showing  that  variety  A  is  better  than  variety  B  ;  with  demon- 
strating that  better  balanced  rations  may  save  so  many  mil- 


RESEARCH  AS  A  CAREER  5 

lion  dollars  yearly  to  the  state ;  with  showing  that  the 
productiveness  of  the  soil  may  be  increased  so  much  by  a 
certain  system  of  farming.  All  these  things  may  be  well 
worth  doing  but  it  is  essential  that  we  distinguish,  to  quote 
the  words  of  Dean  Davenport,  between  research  and  "a  good 
thing."  The  investigator  is  one  who  by  impulse  and  by 
training  seeks  to  go  beyond  these  facts  and  to  trace  out  the 
causes  of  phenomena,  the  hidden  relationships  which  bind 
them  together.  It  would  seem  self-evident  then  that  the  first 
requirement  regarding  the  special  training  for  such  work 
must  be  that  it  be  scientific.  It  should  rest  upon  a  broad  and 
severe  training  in  science,  including  actual  work  in  research 
under  the  direction  and  inspiration  of  an  experienced  in- 
vestigator. The  student  should  not  merely  acquire  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  facts  of  science  but  should  saturate  himself  with 
the  scientific  habit  of  thought  and  work.  However  practical 
the  purpose  of  his  future  experiments,  their  methods  must  be 
scientific.  This,  of  course,  implies  specializaton,  yet  investi- 
gation in  agriculture  in  particular  covers  such  a  broad  field 
and  is  related  to  so  many  sciences  that  too  early  special- 
ization should   be  avoided. 

But  while  the  first  requirement  of  the  agricultural  in- 
vestigator is  this  severe  scientific  training,  it  must  not  be  for- 
gotten on  the  other  hand  that  his  investigations  are  to  be  for 
the  benefit  of  agriculture.  The  language  of  the  Hatch  and 
Adams  Acts  may  well  be  our  guide  in  this  respect.  Section 
2  of  the  Hatch  Act  by  necessary  implication  limits  the  legiti- 
mate work  of  our  experiment  Stations  to  "research  or  ex- 
periments bearing  directly  on  the  agricultural  industry  of 
the  United  States^''"'  and  Section  1  of  the  Adams  Act  employs 
the  same  language  to  qualify  the  original  researches  or  ex- 
periments which  may  be  undertaken  under  its  provisions. 
However  lofty  the  aim  of  the  investigator,  he  must  take  care 
that  his  feet  rest  squarely  and  solidly  on  mother  earth.  Too 
many  instances  of  futile  effort  on  the  part  of  the  purely  scien- 
tific man  to  serve  agriculture  are  familiar  to  us  all  to  require 
any  special  emphasis  on  this  point.  The  object  of  the  agri- 
cultural investigator  is  not  the  increase  of  knowledge  for  its 
own  sake.     Indeed,  I  confess  to  a  doubt  as  to  the  worthiness 


6  RESEARCH  AS  A  CAREER 

of  such  an  ideal  in  any  investigator.  Let  us  by  all  means 
strive  to  increase  knowledge,,  even  of  matters  seemingly  re- 
mote from  practical  concern,  but  let  us  do  this,  not  for  the 
mere  satisfaction  of  mental  curiosity  nor  for  the  increase  of 
our  own  intellectual  complacency,  but  because  we  are  per- 
suaded that  in  so  doing  we  are  rendering  real  even  if 
unrecognized  services  to  mankind.  Certainly,  the  agricultur- 
al investigator  in  the  United  States  is  bound  to  see  to  it  that 
his  projects  bear  some  definite  relation  to  the  actual  problems 
of  agriculture,  which  is  by  no  means  the  same  thing  as  say- 
ing they  must  have  an  immediate  practical  application. 
Plainly,  then,  the  agricultural  investigator  must  have  an  ac- 
quaintance with  the  practical  problems  and  conditions  of  ag- 
riculture, as  well  as  a  training  in  the  methods  of  science. 

2.  How  may  the  prospective  investigator  in  agriculture 
best  acquire  the  necessary  combination  of  scientific  discipline 
and  practical  knowledge  ? 

Our  thoughts  naturally  turn  in  this  connection  to  the  ag- 
ricultural colleges.  Neither  the  conception  of  the  agricultural 
college  nor  its  function  in  the  scheme  of  agricultural  educa- 
tion are  as  yet  altogether  clearly  defined.  Historically,  the 
purpose  of  the  agricultural  college  has  been  to  prepare  men 
for  the  business  of  farming,  and  the  success  of  these  institu- 
tions is  still  largely  judged  by  the  general  public  from  this 
standpoint.  For  the  quarter  century  following  1862,  practi- 
cally the  only  idea  of  agricultural  education  that  was  in  men's 
minds  was  that  of  a  course  at  one  of  these  colleges — these 
courses  varying  somewhat  widely  in  character  but  being  sup- 
posedly at  least  of  college  grade.  In  later  years,  our  con- 
ception of  the  scope  and  methods  of  agricultural  education 
has  greatly  broadened.  We  have  successively  added  to  the 
system  secondary  courses,  trade  courses  (especially  dairy 
courses),  various  forms  of  extension  and  demonstration  work, 
and  finally  are  making  a  beginning  in  providing  for  primary 
education  in  agriculture.  While  we  still  regard  a  collegiate 
education  as  desirable  for  the  farmer,  we  nevertheless  recog- 
nize that  the  ranks  of  educated  practical  farmers  must  be 
largely  recruited  from  these  other  sources. 

With  this  enlarged  conception  of  agricultural  education, 


RESEARCH  AS  A  CAREER  7 

some  change  of  emphasis  in  the  agricultural  college  seems 
called  for.  As  these  other  means  of  agricultural  education 
develop,  the  function  of  the  college  will,  I  am  convinced,  tend 
more  and  more  to  become  that  of  the  training  of  leaders — 
owners  or  managers  of  large  estates,  public  agricultural  of- 
ficials, teachers,  and  not  least,  investigators.  That  all  these 
need  special  training  in  addition  to  that  which  may  suffice  for 
the  practical  farmer  will  not  be  disputed,  and  it  seems  to  me 
equally  indisputable  that  the  agricultural  colleges  should 
supply  this  training,  but  there  has  seemed  to  be  a  certain 
degree  of  hesitancy  on  the  part  of  the  colleges  to  recognize 
this  as  their  special  field  of  work.  They  are  passing  through 
a  transition  stage  and  the  traditions  of  the  past  are  still  pow- 
erful, while  they  are  perhaps  peculiarly  subject  to  the 
temptation  that  besets  all  technical  education  to  sacrifice  ulti- 
mate power  to  immediate  efficiency. 

In  its  relation  to  the  undergraduate  training  of  the  future 
investigator,  the  question  is  largely  one  of  the  quality  of  the 
training  given  by  these  institutions.  They  unquestionably 
familiarize  their  students  with  the  practical  aspects  of  agri- 
culture and  so  furnish  to  a  good  degree  one  of  the  two 
elements  required  in  the  investigator,  but  how  far  do  they 
impart  to  their  graduates  the  spirit  and  temper  of  the  investi- 
gator? Here  again  we  must  take  account  of  conditions  as 
they  exist.  Agriculture  as  a  discipline  is  a  comparatively  new 
subject.  Much  has  been  done  within  the  recent  past  to  bring 
it  into  pedagogic  form,  yet  large  portions  of  it  are  still  of 
necessity  taught  as  information  subjects.  This  seems  una- 
voidable under  present  conditions,  yet  it  has  its  unfortunate 
effects  upon  the  student,  which  are  only  partially  minimized 
by  his  training  in  the  sciences  related  to  agriculture.  One  of 
the  most  urgent  needs  in  the  training  of  investigators  is  great- 
er emphasis  upon  the  teaching  of  the  science  of  agricult- 
ure to  undergraduate  students,  and  this  again  can  be  fully  ef- 
ficient only  as  the  foundations  of  that  science  are  broadened 
and  deepened  by  the  labors  of  the  investigator.  I  make 
these  comments  in  no  pessimistic  spirit.  Our  agricultural 
colleges  are  doing,  on  the  whole,  admirable  work,  and  if  they 
can  avoid  too  great  emphasis  upon  the  practical  applications 


RESEARCH  AS  A  CAREER 


of  science,  their  graduates  should  furnish  our  chief  supply  of 
agricultural  investigators. 

No  one  expects,  however,  that  the  average  baccalaureate 
will  be  a  qualified  scientific  investigator  in  more  than  the 
most  limited  sense.  His  time  has  been  fully  occupied  in  lay- 
ing the  foundations  and  he  is  just  ready  to  begin  his  real  train- 
ing for  research,  which  must  be  essentially  graduate  training. 
Hitherto,  the  function  of  graduate  instruction  has  been  but 
slightly  developed  in  our  agricultural  colleges  and  their  con- 
dition in  this  respect  has  been  fitly  characterized  by  Prof. 
Bailey  as  "  Headless."  In  the  past,  graduate  training  in  ag- 
riculture, except  as  it  has  been  secured  in  foreign  institutions, 
has  been  gained  chiefly  in  the  actual  prosecution  of  research 
in  our  experiment  stations  and  departments  of  agriculture. 
We  have  been  practicing  an  apprenticeship  system.  Agri- 
cultural research  in  this  country  has  grown  with  such  tre- 
mendous strides  that  every  graduate  showing  fair  promise  of 
ability  in  this  direction  has  been  eagerly  caught  up  by  these 
institutions.  Almost  as  an  incident,  and  without  distinct 
purpose  or  plan  on  their  part,  they  have  become  our  agri- 
cultural university  and  their  assistants  have  been  our  gradu- 
ate students.  Where  those  in  charge  of  the  work  have  been 
themselves  thoroughly  trained  scientists,  the  method  has 
worked  fairly  well,  but  in  the  rapid  expansion  of  the  work 
of  research,  very  responsible  positions  have  perforce  been 
filled  by  men  whose  scientific  training  was  not  of  the  highest 
grade,  however  great  their  practical  qualifications.  In  such 
cases  it  has  been  natural  that  the  scientific  training  of  the  as- 
sistant should  be  more  or  less  inadequate  and  the  results  have 
not  always  been  the  most  fortunate.  The  time  will  soon 
come,  if  indeed  it  be  not  already  here,  when  the  provision  of 
adequate  graduate  training  in  agriculture  must  engage  our 
serious  attention.  It  is  a  most  hopeful  sign  of  the  times  that 
the  Association  of  American  Agricultural  Colleges  and  Ex- 
periment Stations  has  definitely  assumed  the  responsibility 
for  the  continuance  of  the  Graduate  Summer  School  of  Ag- 
riculture, and  the  relatively  large  attendance  at  both  the  ses- 
sions of  that  school  shows  that  the  need  for  graduate  study  is 
widely  felt.     It  is  a  very  promising  beginning,  yet  only  a  be- 


RESEARCH  AS  A  CAREER  9 

ginning.  Even  its  most  ardent  advocates  or  those  most  in- 
timately associated  with  its  development  would  not  for  a 
moment  claim  that  it  can  fully  meetouf  fast  coming  needs  or 
supply  that  systematic  training  in  investigation  which  is 
requisite  if  the  personnel  of  our  research  institutions  in  agri- 
culture is  to  reach  the  degree  of  efficiency  demanded  by  the 
problems  of  the  future.  It  seems  to  your  speaker  high  time 
that  the  stronger  colleges  began  the  earnest  consideration  of 
the  question  how  the  services  of  the  many  talented  and 
able  men  in  the  faculties  of  our  agricultural  colleges  may  be 
brought  to  bear  on  the  post-graduate  education  of  our  future 
investigators,  not  merely  for  a  week  or  two  at  a  summer 
school  but  in  the  daily  work  of  laboratory  and  seminar.  A 
present  difficulty,  of  course,  lies  in  the  somewhat  limited  num- 
ber of  students  in  any  one  institution  desirous  of  such  op- 
portunities, yet  it  would  seem  that  a  system  of  inter-university 
credits  for  work  done,  with  perhaps  the  occasional  exchange 
of  professors,  might  help  to  meet  the  difficulty. 

Naturally  such  graduate  work,  if  undertaken,  will  at 
first  be  closely  affiliated  with  the  experiment  stations,  yet 
there  is  a  certain  distinction.  The  first  duty  of  these  public 
institutions  for  agricultural  research  is  to  produce  results. 
They  are  conceived  and  organized  primarily  for  this  purpose 
and  not  for  graduate  instruction,  and  while  the  latter  in  the 
large  view  is  perhaps  quite  as  important  as  the  former,  in  any 
conflict  of  obligations  it  must  give  way.  Under  conditions  as 
they  exist  today,  I  am  inclined  to  the  belief  that  it  would  be 
to  the  great  advantage  of  our  future  research  work  if  as  many 
as  possible  of  those  contemplating  entrance  upon  it  were  to 
spend  such  time  as  they  could  at  a  non-agricultural  university, 
where  research  is  carried  on  with  a  more  distinct  vie'W  to  its 
influence  in  training  the  student  and  where  a  changed  atmos- 
phere and  conditions,  and  contact  with  diverse  lines  of  inves- 
tigation, tend  to  give  the  student  a  broader  outlook.  If  his 
interest  in  and  sympathy  with  agriculture  are  so  weak  as  to 
be  dissipated  by  such  contact  with  university  life,  his  value 
to  the  cause  of  agriculture  in  any  case  is  questionable.  If  such 
a  course  is  impossible,  then  let  the  student  seek  a  position  under 
some  competent  investigator,  where  he  can  take  part  in  and 


10  RESEARCH  AS  A  CAREER 

imbibe  the  atmosphere  of  research,  and  let  him  regard  this  as 
part  of  his  post-graduate  training  and  if  necessary  pay  the 
price  by  accepting  a  low  salary  for  a  year  or  two.  The  ex- 
periment stations  should  count  it  part  of  their  duty  to  en- 
courage such  training  by  giving  preference  to  such  men  in 
their  appointments. 

3.  Are  the  conditions  surrounding  research  work  in  ag- 
riculture such  as  are  calculated  to  attract  qualified  men  to  it, 
and  to  induce  students  to  engage  in  definite  prepartaion 
for  it  ? 

As  I  see  it,  three  requirements  must  be  met. 

Perhaps  the  most  important  of  these  is  the  prospect  of 
opportunity  for  independent  work  involving  both  responsi- 
bility and  credit  for  results.  Naturally  the  young  assistant 
must  usually  begin  in  a  subordinate  position.  This  is  both 
unavoidable  and  healthful.  In  the  execution  of  any  consid- 
erable scientific  undertaking,  a  certain  amount  of  routine 
work  must  necessarily  be  done.  Weighings  must  be  made 
day  after  day  ;  measurements  must  be  taken  ;  plots  must  be 
inspected  ;  bacteria  must  be  counted ;  chemical  analyses  must 
be  executed ;  data  must  be  recorded  and  computed.  These 
are  the  stones  with  which  the  structure  of  research  is  built  up, 
and  unless  they  be  quarried  from  the  enduring  rock,  and  laid 
four-square  to  the  winds  of  heaven,  there  is  danger  that  the 
whole  edifice  may  come  tumbling  about  our  ears.  Much  of 
this  work  naturally  falls  to  the  man  occupying  a  subordinate 
position,  nor  should  he  object  to  this.  On  the  contrary,  it  is 
a  valuable  discipline  to  him.  He  is  learning  to  use  the  tools 
of  his  trade ;  he  is  seeing  how  these  separate  items  are  organ- 
ized and  marshaled  in  the  attack  upon  the  problem  under  in- 
vestigation 

No  one  who  has  been  responsible  for  the  organization  of 
such  an  undertaking,  however,  can  fail  to  recognize  that  the 
necessity  for  routine  work  brings  with  it  danger.  There  is  a 
strong  temptation  to  organize  the  investigation  on  what  may 
be  called  the  factory  system  ;  to  assign  to  each  man  some  one 
class  of  duties  in  which  he  may  become  perfect  by  repetition, 
and  to  make  assistants  and  appliances  alike  simply  cogs  in  the 


RESEARCH  AS  A  CAREER  1 1 

machine  for  turning  out  scientific  results;  and  the  tempta- 
tion is  perhaps  the  greater,  the  more  efficient  the  organizer 
and  the  broader  his  grasp  of  the  problem.  But  suclj  organi- 
zation, while  perhaps  the  most  efficient  as  regards  quantity  of 
work  and  well  adapted,  for  example,  to  the  execution  of  con- 
trol analyses,  must  utterly  fail  to  develop  that  esprit  de  corps 
which  is  essential  in  investigation  and  in  the  end  must 
seriously  affect  the  quality  of  the  work.  Team  work  is  as 
requisite  in  research  as  in  athletics,  and  not  the  least  of  the 
duties  of  the  captain  is  to  make  each  man  feel  that  his  work, 
however  humble  and  monotonous,  is  an  essential  and  integral 
part  of  the  whole.  To  the  extent  to  which  this  can  be  ac- 
complished, routine  ceases  to  be  drudgery  and  the  worker 
becomes  alert  to  bring  his  contribution  to  the  whole  as  near 
perfection  as  possible. 

But  the  beginner  in  research  should  see  before  him  a 
prospect  of  something  better  than  routine.  As  he  acquires 
experience  and  power,  there  should  open  before  him  the  pos- 
sibility of  attaining  a  position  of  higher  rank  and  greater  re- 
sponsibility. While  it  is  true  that  at  present  there  is  no  lack  of 
opportunities  for  competent  men,  nevertheless,  this  is  a  point 
which  may  well  be  born  in  mind  in  considering  problems  of 
organization.  The  tendency  of  the  present  time  seems  to  be 
toward  relatively  large  and  highly  organized  agencies  for  ag- 
ricultural research.  From  the  point  of  view  of  administra- 
tion this  is  a  natural  tendencey,  yet  from  the  point  of  view 
of  research  it  may  have  unfortunate  consequences.  If  the 
head  of  the  organization  be  himself  an  investigator  his  time 
and  strength  tends  to  be  withdrawn  more  and  more 
from  his  highest  work  to  the  problems  of  organization 
and  propaganda.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  head  of  the  or- 
ganization be  an  administrator  pure  and  simple  we  run  into 
the  opposite  danger  of  a  lack  of  sympathy  with  the  view 
point  of  the  scientific  investigator  and  of  a  more  or  less 
bureaucratic  organization.  Administration,  of  course,  we 
must  have.  On  the  other  hand,  the  real  investigator  must  be 
close  to  his  work  and  able  to  give  it  the  major  share  of  his 
time  and  strength.  It  is  as  true  in  science  as  in  religion  that 
no  man  can  serve  two  masters.     Without  attempting  any  dis- 


12  RESEARCH  AS  A  CAREER 

cussiou  of  the  administrative  side  of  the  question,  I  am  strong- 
ly of  the  opinion  that  each  group  of  workers  undertaking  a 
definite  field  of  research  should  in  some  way  be  allowed  a 
large  degree  of  independence  in  their  operations  with  of 
course  the  corresponding  responsibility  which  can  only  come 
with  freedom.  How  this  may  be  best  combined  with  a  prop- 
er coordination  of  all  the  lines  of  work  of  an  experiment 
station,  for  example,  and  with  effective  financial  administra- 
tion, is  a  question  lying  outside  the  scope  of  this  address. 

A  practically  if  not  formally  autonomous  organization  of 
a  limited  line  of  research  would  seem  to  hold  out  distinct  ad- 
vantages to  the  younger  workers.  Such  an  organization  is 
likely  to  comprise  comparatively  few  individvals,  who  are 
brought  into  close  personal  touch  with  each  other  and  with 
their  chief.  The  latter,  if  he  grasps  his  opportunity,  will  be 
far  less  the  director  than  the  inspirer  of  the  work.  In  such 
an  organization  the  formal  bonds  of  authority  rest  lightly,  or 
give  place  to  the  comradeship  engendered  by  the  pursuit  of  a 
common  object.  Not  only  do  such  conditions  lighten  the 
burden  of  routine  work,  but  in  the  stimulating  atmosphere  of 
research  the  powers  of  the  subordinate  have  every  opportu- 
nity to  develop  and  manifest  themselves.  In  short,  it  is  in 
this  way  that  th^  university  function  of  the  research  institu- 
tion is  most  effectively  performed  and  the  training  of  the 
young  worker  in  the  method  and  spirit  of  scientific  investi- 
gation most  rapidly  advanced.  Our  agricultural  colleges  will 
do  well  to  consider  whether  liberally  supported  departments 
of  real,  fundamental  scientific  research  will  not  be  of  the 
highest  value  from  the  educational  standpoint  in  furnishing 
graduate  training  for  students  in  addition  to  their  importance 
in  building  up  agricultural  science.  Moreover,  a  decentralized 
organization  of  research,  while  not  perhaps  increasing  the 
number  of  positions  to  be  filled,  nor  diminishing  the  amount 
of  routine  work  to  be  done,  does  increase  the  number  of 
virtually  independent  and  responsible  positions.  Considera- 
tions of  formal  organization  should  interpose  as  few  obstacles 
as  possible  to  the  development  of  the  individuality  of  the 
promising  investigator.  This  is  the  soul  of  research  ;  the  or- 
ganization but  the  body. 


RESEARCH  AS  A  CAREER  13 

Another  condition,  closely  related  to  the  above,  which 
must  be  fulfilled,  if  research  in  agriculture  is  to  be  made  per- 
manently attractive  to  able  men,  is  what  we  may  call  in  a 
somewhat  extended  sense  academic  freedom.  The  competent 
investigator  should  be  responsible  for  his  mature  scientific 
conclusions  primarily  to  his  own  conscience.  Crudeness  and 
haste  may  perhaps  tend  to  mark  the  work  of  the  young 
investigator,  but  under  anywise  and  judicious  administration 
these  failings  can  easily  be  remedied,  and  their  overcoming 
made  a  part  of  the  training  of  the  man,  with  no  sacrifice  of 
freedom.  Premature  and  sensational  publication  and  the 
search  for  newspaper  notoriety,  are  of  course  to  be  deprecated 
and  if  necessary  suppressed,  but  anything  like  suppression  of 
results  because  they  do  not  accord  either  with  supposedly 
established  views  or  with  preconceived  notions  of  a  superior 
officer  is  not  only  fatal  to  the  interests  of  research  itself  but 
likewise  to  the  supply  of  competent  investigators.  No  man 
with  the  true  spirit  of  the  investigator  will  consent  to  accept 
a  position  in  which  the  results  of  his  investigations  are  pre- 
scribed in  advance. 

I  am  glad  to  believe  that  there  is  comparatively  little  of 
this  spirit  in  our  institutions  for  agricultural  research,  and 
that  the  cases  are  rare  in  which  any  sane  and  well  considered 
conclusions  are  not  assured  of  a  hearing.  Indeed,  I  am  in- 
clined to  believe  that  our  danger  lies  rather  in  the  opposite 
direction ;  in  the  too  ready  acceptance  of  novel  or  striking 
conclusions,  and  the  lack  of  adequate  criticism  and  discussion 
of  results  announced.  It  is  a  necessary  corollary  of  the  doc- 
trine of  freedom  of  investigation  that  there  shall  also  be  free- 
dom of  discussion,  and  that  if  a  man's  scientific  utterances  are 
not  dictated  by  his  superior  officers  neither  shall  he  expect  to 
be  defended  by  them  from  the  critical  judgment  of  his  scien- 
tific peers.  I  am  not  now  referring  to  personal  attacks,  or 
the  impugnment  of  scientific  or  professional  veracity,  but  to 
the  deliberate,  objective  judgment  of  experts  upon  the  quality 
of  a  man's  work  and  the  validity  of  his  conclusions.  If  he 
cannot  justify  himself  before  this  tribunal,  he  should  not  cry 
to  Jove  for  help.  One  of  our  most  serious  deficiencies  at  the 
present  time  is  the  lack  of  a  suitable  medium  for  the  judicial 


14  RESEARCH  AS  A  CAREER 

criticism — just  and  appreciative,  but  also  unsparing — of  pub- 
lications in  agricultural  science,  but  it  is  far  easier  to  see  the 
difficulty  than  to  devise  a  remedy. 

Finally,  we  have  to  inquire  what  rewards  research  in 
agriculture  offers.  First,  there  is  the  question  of  the  pe- 
cuniary rewards.  No  one  under  present  conditions  expects 
the  work  of  research  to  be  brilliantly  successful  financially. 
While  science  is  coming  to  be  more  and  more  largely  recog- 
nized as  lying  at  the  basis  of  our  material  civilization,  it  is 
still  the  inventor,  rather  than  the  investigator,  who  reaps  the 
large  pecuniary  rewards.  The  investigator^  however,  may  fairly 
claim  a  living  wage,  and  this  means,  in  his  case,  not  simply 
provision  for  his  physical  needs  but  for  his  mental  growth  as 
well.  He  must  have  books.  He  must  maintain  membership 
in  learned  societies,  and  attend  their  meetings.  He  must,  if 
possible,  travel.  He  must  maintain  a  style  of  living  measur- 
ably comparable  with  that  of  the  classes  of  society  into  which 
he  is  naturally  thrown.     He  may  even  wish  to  rear  a  family. 

In  the  hope  of  obtaining  some  data  regarding  the  actual 
compensation  of  agricultural  investigators  in  this  country, 
which  might  be,  at  least,  suggestive,  I  have  addressed  in- 
quiries on  the  subject  to  the  directors  of  all  the  experiment 
stations.  Thirty-seven  of  these  have  been  kind  enough  to  re- 
ply, more  or  less  fully,  to  these  inquiries.  The  questions  re- 
lated to  the  salaries  paid  to  the  scientific  staffs  of  the  Stations, 
excluding,  on  the  one  hand,  the  director,  whose  salary  is 
presumably  determined,  in  part,  by  his  executive  ability,  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  those  persons  whose  duties  are  of  a  purely 
clerical  or  mechanical  nature.  They  included  college  as  well 
as  station  salaries.  It  is  obvious  that  returns  secured  in  this 
somewhat  hasty  and  informal  way  cannot  be  regarded  as  in 
any  sense  authoritative,  yet  some  of  the  results  may  not  be 
without  interest. 

It  appears  that  the  average  total  salary  of  509  individuals 
is  $1,442  per  year.  In  the  case  of  489  of  these,  $926,  or  64 
per  cent  of  the  whole  salary,  was  paid  by  the  experiment 
station.  Somewhat  more  instructive  is  the  range  of  salaries. 
The  average  salary  of  the  thirty-seven  persons  reported  as 


RESEARCH  AS  A  CAREER  15 

receiving  the  maximum  in  their  respective  institutions  was 
$2,269.  The  average  salary  of  the  thirty-two  persons  re- 
ceiving maximum  Station  salaries  was  $1,605.  The  largest 
total  salary  in  the  list  is  $4,000,  paid  wholly  by  an  experi- 
ment station.  The  next  highest  total  salary  is  $3,450,  while 
the  next  highest  salary  paid  by  an  experiment  station  is 
$2,600.  The  lowest  salary  in  this  list  is  $1,020,  the  next 
lowest,  however^  being  $1,500.  Turning  now  to  the  other 
end  of  the  series,  the  thirty-six  individuals  reported  as  re- 
ceiving the  minimum  salaries  averaged  $667,  and  the  twenty- 
nine  reported  as  receiving  minimum  station  salaries  averaged 
$642.  The  highest  minimum  salary  in  the  list  is  $1,200, 
while  amounts  as  low  as  $100  are  reported,  evidently  cover- 
ing only  partial  or  temporary  service.  These  figures  con- 
firm fully  the  general  statment  made  to  me  by  Director  A.  0. 
True,  of  the  Office  of  Experiment  Stations,  in  response  to  an 
inquiry,  as  follows  : — 

"The  salaries  of  mature  experts  in  our  stations  range  all 
the  way  from  a  merely  nominal  sum,  given  for  consultation 
services,  or  supervision  of  some  limited  investigation,  up  to 
$4,000.  Where  an  expert's  service  is  wholly  given  to  his 
college  and  station  work  and  he  has  the  rank  of  professor, 
but  does  not  act  in  an  administrative  capacity,  the  salary 
ranges  from  $1,500  to  $4,000.  Salaries  of  $1,800  to  $2,000 
are  quite  common  and  represent  what  may  be  called  the 
average.  There  is  a  general  tendency  to  raise  salaries,  and 
$2,500  is  a  much  more  common  figure  than  it  was  a  few  years 
ago." 

Apparently,  then,  the  young  man  looking  forward  to  a 
career  in  agricultural  research  may  expect  to  begin  his 
service  at  a  salary  of  from  $650  to  $700  per  year,  or  if  he  is 
fortunate  in  his  institution,  may  receive  as  much  as  $1,200. 
It  appears,  also,  that  nearly  all  of  this  is  likely  to  be  paid  by 
the  experiment  station.  In  other  words,  the  figures  confirm 
the  general  impression  that  it  is  the  younger  and  less  well 
trained  workers  who  are  employed  exclusively,  or  chiefly,  in 
station  work.  If  an  average  young  man,  as  he  grows  in  ex- 
perience and  usefulness  he  may  expect  to  reach  the  average 
salary  of  $1,400  to  $1,500,  by  which  time,  however,  something 


16  RESEARCH  AS  A  CAREER 

like  one-third  of  his  energies  will  be  demanded  by  the  work 
of  instruction.  As  he  approaches  the  higher  grades  of  the 
service,  he  may  anticipate  a  salary  of  from  |2,000  to  $2,500, 
of  which  perhaps  40  per  cent  will  be  received  for  teaching 
work,  while  $3,500  to  $4,000  appears  to  be  the  upper  limit, 
with  the  exception  of  a  comparatively  few  more  highly  paid 
executive  and  administrative  positions. 

On  the  whole,  these  data  seem  to  indicate  that  the  work 
of  investigation  in  agriculture  is  paid  much  on  the  same 
scale  as  the  work  of  instruction  in  our  colleges  and  universi- 
ties, although  naturally  no  exact  comparison  is  possible.  The 
weak  point  appears  to  me  to  be  the  comparatively  small  sal- 
aries paid  in  the  lower  grades  of  the  service.  With  the 
growing  call  for  men  in  other  lines  of  agricultural  and  scien- 
tific work,  the  stations  are  in  serious  danger  of  finding  their 
lower  ranks  filled  with  the  "  culls  "  of  our  agricultural  grad- 
uates. 

Naturally  few  things  are  less  satisfactory  than  a  dis- 
cussion of  the  proper  compensation  for  professional  or  similar 
services.  There  are  few  of  us  I  presume,  who  are  quite  sure 
that  our  abilities  are  as  fully  recognized  pecuniarily  as  they 
should  be,  or  who  could  not  find  many  uses  for  even  a  small 
advance  in  salary,  w^hile,  on  the  other  hand,  there  are  few  of 
us  who,  if  compelled  to  do  so,  could  not  subsist  on  less  than 
we  are  now  receiving.  Commercial  standards  are  not  al- 
together applicable,  yet  this  much  may  safely  be  said,  that  if 
the  work  of  research  in  agriculture  is  worth  doing  at  all  it  is 
essential  that  its  money  rewards  be  sufficient  to  prevent  the 
pressure  of  pecuniary  needs  from  forcing  capable  and  com- 
petent men  into  other  lines  of  work,  a  tendency  which  has 
not  been  entirely  lacking  in  recent  years. 

But  the  pecuniary  rewards  of  research,  like  those  of  any 
other  career,  are  or  should  be  secondary.  The  man  who  sim- 
ply works  for  his  wages  is  equally  to  be  commiserated, 
whether  his  work  be  in  business,  in  science  or  industry; 
whether  his  wages  be  measured  by  dollars  or  by  millions.  To 
the  man  of  high  ideals  not  a  small  part  of  the  attraction  of  a 
career  of  successful  research   lies   in   the   very  fact  that  its 


RESEARCH  AS  A  CAREER  17 

largest  rewards  are  immaterial.  Leaving  out  all  questions  of 
pecuniary  recompense,  or  of  possible  fame,  the  rewards  of  the 
searcher  after  truths  are  large.  The  satisfaction  of  worthily 
exerting  worthy  powers  is  after  all  one  of  the  highest  pleasures 
which  most  men  can  enjoy.  He  who  can  feel  as  he  nears 
the  end  of  life  that  his  work  has  been  of  real  service,  however 
humble,  to  mankind — that  he  has  assisted  in  building  up  in- 
stead of  tearing  down — can  look  toward  the  end  with  con- 
fidence. 

Such  satisfaction,  it  seems  to  me,  is  peculiarly  the  share 
of  the  agricultural  investigator  at  the  present  time.  This 
country  seems  to  be  just  beginning  to  realize  the  tremendous 
sociological  importance  of  rural  life,  nor  do  I  believe  it  a 
mere  chance  that  this  development  is  so  largely  coincident 
with  the  development  of  agricultural  science.  While  the  be- 
ginnings of  agricultural  research  in  this  country  date  back  to 
the  SO's,  and  while  a  notable  increase  of  interest  in  it  followed 
the  establishment  of  the  first  agricultural  experiment  station 
in  1875,  it  was  by  the  enactment  of  the  Hatch  Act,  twenty 
years  ago  last  March,  that  the  United  States  definitely  com- 
mitted itself  to  the  policy  of  promoting  research  in  agri- 
culture. The  far-reaching  effects  of  that  act  are  becoming 
increasingly  apparent,  and  by  no  means  the  least  of  these  is 
the  stimulus  which  it  gave  to  agricultural  education.  The 
recent  surprising  growth  of  the  agricultural  colleges,  and  the 
still  more  recent  development  of  secondary  and  primary  agri- 
cultural education,  all  date  substantially  from  1887.  Begin- 
ning with  n  keen  appreciation  of  the  material  benefits  ac- 
cruing to  technical  agriculture  from  the  investigations  of  the 
scientist,  as  demonstrated  by  the  work  of  the  experiment 
stations,  this  movement,  while  losing  none  of  its  practical 
character,  is  steadily  broadening  its  scope.  We  are  gradually 
coming  to  see  that  the  function  of  science  in  relation  to  agri- 
culture is  not  simply  to  perfect  its  technic  and  enhance  its 
profits,  but  that  its  ultimate  aim  is  nothing  short  of  the  up- 
lifting of  the  whole  body  of  the  agricultural  people.  That 
this  uplift  began  with  the  improvement  of  the  physical  con- 
ditions of  farming  is  but  a  repetition  of  the  experience  of  the 
jiges.     That  it  has  so  soon  begun  to  take  on  the  broader  as- 


1  8  RESEARCH  AS  A  CAREER 

pect  is  cause  for  profound  satisfaction.  Those  who  have 
aided,  however  humbly,  in  this  advance  may  well  feel  that 
this  fact  is  their  chief  reward,  while  the  breadth  and  signifi- 
cance of  this  movement  for  the  advancement  of  agriculture 
should  appeal  with  tremendous  force  to  the  generous  soul  of 
youth.  He  who  may  reasonably  hope  to  promote  by  his 
researches  this  vast  movement  need  seek  no  further  for  a 
worthy  career. 


